Re: The Cybernetic Hypothesis
Jon Awbrey <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.inquiry,gmane.comp.ai.conceptual-graphs |
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| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
Re: Louis H Kauffman At: https://hermes.gwu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1010&L=cybcom&F=&S=&P=15876 Living organisms find themselves in states of tension that move them to actions designed to lessen the motive tension. Organisms capable of inquiry experience particular states of tension that we may call "doubt", "surprise", "uncertainty", and other names, and they are driven to reduce that tension by seeking the particular kinds of signs that we call "explanations". Surprise = uncertainty --> inquiry --> explanation --> less uncertainty. Surprise arises when there is a difference between expectation and observation. "The most fundamental concept in cybernetics is that of ''difference'', either that two things are recognisably different or that one thing has changed with time." (Ashby, Introduction to Cybernetics). Et sic deinceps ... Jon -- inquiry list: http://stderr.org/pipermail/inquiry/ mwb: http://www.mywikibiz.com/Directory:Jon_Awbrey knol: http://knol.google.com/k/-/-/3fkwvf69kridz/1 oeiswiki: http://www.oeis.org/wiki/User:Jon_Awbrey